Leicester kick off 2018-19 at Old Trafford

City’s season gets off to a tough start at Manchester United, and newly-promoted Wolves are the first visitors to the King Power. The nearest thing we have to a local derby. 

City host Liverpool on September 1st, and are at home to Manchester City on Boxing Day.
The popular Brighton trip is, sadly, November 24th.
The first game of 2019 takes City to Everton, and there is a tough looking end to the season with Arsenal at home, Man City away and Chelsea at the KPS.

Full list HERE.

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Get your name in ‘Can’t Buy That Feeling – The Best of The Fox Interviews’…

Can’t Buy That Feeling – Inside Leicester City – The Best of The Fox Interviews

We have finally got round to compiling all our interviews into one book and you can subscribe to it now at Conker Editions Ltd.

A subscribers’ copy of Can’t Buy That Feeling – Inside Leicester City includes three special features:
— Your name will appear in a subscribers’ roll of honour inside the book. (Or you could add the name of the City fan in your life, a great gift idea!)
— Your copy of the book will be signed (and, if you wish, personally dedicated) by the authors
— And you’ll receive your copy before the official publication date in August

The FOX has been interviewing Leicester City players, managers, famous fans and board members for almost three decades, building up a body of work that takes you right into the very fabric of the club, with memories spanning the last 60 years.

As a City fan, you’ve come to know hundreds of players through their performance on the pitch, through potted career biographies and football sticker images. But what about the real characters behind the blue shirt and the back-page reports?

Can’t Buy That Feeling takes you inside LCFC from the perspective of those who were there – behind the scenes at the long-running soap opera packed with moments of comedy and tragedy, triumph and disaster, silverware and financial ruin.

Read the best of The Fox interviews and you will discover:

o How it feels to score a last-minute winner at Wembley
o Who bore the brunt of Stan Collymore’s fire extinguisher
o How it feels to be a World Cup winner, and axed by Leicester City
o Which City star was run out of his local for moving to Leicester
o The identity of the City player who chased half the Chelsea team down the tunnel
o Players’ big-match memories, their real opinions of their bosses, team-mates and fans…

Spurs edge Leicester out in Wembley goal feast

Tottenham Hotspur 5:4 Leicester City

City ended the season with defeat against Tottenham in a hugely entertaining nine-goal thriller at Wembley…

Claude Puel made two changes for his final starting XI of the season, with Gray and Iborra in for Diabate and Choudhury.
From early on this game had an end-of-term feel about it, and the goals soon started to fly in.
City took a fourth minute lead. Gray was fouled by Walker-Peters down the left, Mahrez swung the free-kick in, and Vardy’s delicate nod steered the ball beyond Lloris and into the far corner.
However, while the City fans were still celebrating, Tottenham were back on level terms. An attempted pass from Simpson struck Lucas and rebounded into the path of Kane, who charged up-field and beat Jakupovic low to his right.
Spurs had a good attacking spell following their goal: Eriksen sent a shot straight at Jakupovic, and then Simpson did well with a clearing header from a dangerous cross.
But it was City who next troubled the scoreboard. After winning the ball in midfield Mahrez found Iheanacho, who played a short ball to Silva, who nudged the ball onto Vardy. Vardy was blocked as he attempted to pull the trigger, but Mahrez was following up to blast the loose ball home.

City should have gone further ahead in the 25th minute. A sweeping upfield move involving Gray, Iheanacho and Vardy saw Gray in on goal, but his shot lacked venom and Lloris pulled off a fine save.
City then caused Spurs problems with a couple of corners, but Maguire couldn’t find the right touch at the far post.
Spurs had another good spell up to the break and Maguire put in a couple of vital challenges to deny Kane and then Sissoko, ensuring City went in at half time with the lead.

Just two minutes into the second half City extended their lead with a superb effort.
Iheanacho picked up a loose ball in midfield and shrugged off the challenge of Wanyama, before launching a rocket into the top right hand corner.

Sadly, City never got a chance to sit on the two goal lead, as Spurs hit back two minutes later. An intricate Spurs passing move through City’s defence provided a tap-in for Lamela, who looked offside, but the linesman was deaf to Leicester’s appeals.
Four minutes later Spurs levelled the game with a slice of fortune.
Lamela’s shot from close in was heading wide after a deflection off Maguire, but it then hit Fuchs’ knee and found the net.
At the other end, Maguire hit a shot narrowly wide, before Tottenham took the the lead for the first time on the hour.
It was another gift. Gray chested the ball down into the path of  Walker-Peters, who crossed for Lamela, all on his own and he beat Jakupovic from 6 yards.
City rallied themselves after conceding three goals in 11 minutes.
After some good work down the right, Mahrez teed up Iheanacho whose hard and low shot forced a fine save from Lloris.
City then drew level in the 73rd minute. After a wrestling match in City’s area between Morgan and Kane, the ref waved play on and Jakupovic set the counter-attack in motion. City raced upfield, Man City style, and Mahrez threaded a ball through the defence for Vardy who smashed his 20th league goal of the season in the roof of the net from an acute angle.

But again, the City corner didn’t have long to celebrate as Tottenham came back with the winner three minutes later. Choudhury bought a Kane dummy hook, line and sinker on the edge of the area, allowing the England striker time to line up a shot into the top right hand corner.
City had one more chance to equalise, but Vardy lashed an effort over the bar, and the season ended as it had started, with a high scoring defeat in North London.
It was a strange feeling to come away from Wembley feeling disapointed but entertained, as opposed to the usual triumph or despair.

2017-18 was a funny old season, ninth place and two cup quarter-finals beats just about every campaign in the club’s history, but a sense of an opportunity missed pervades.
Big changes may be coming this summer and we are all hoping that the club’s owners can make decisions to match their ambitions.

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker-Peters, Alderweireld, Dier, Rose, Sissoko (Son Heung-min 84), Wanyama, Lamela (Sánchez 78), Eriksen, Lucas Moura (Alli 74), Kane.
Substitutes: Vorm, Llorente, Foyth, Davies.
Leicester: Jakupovic, Simpson (Choudhury 56), Morgan, Maguire, Fuchs, Silva, Iborra, Mahrez, Iheanacho (Barnes 85), Gray (Diabaté 61), Vardy.
Substitutes: Hamer, Benalouane, Ndukwu, Hughes.

Referee: C Pawson. Attendance: 77,841.

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Leicester break Arsenal jinx with end of season show

Leicester City 3:1 Arsenal 

City produced a fine performance in the final home game of the season, with a 3-1 victory over Arsenal…

With City looking for their first league win over Arsenal since 1994, Claude Puel made three changes to his starting line-up with Jakupovic, Simpson and Iheanacho in for  Hamer, Benalouane and Iborra.
Before the game we said farewell to Robert Huth, who is not having his contract renewed after a season out with injury. His immense contribution to the Great Escape and the Premier League title will never be forgotten.

After six home games without a win, expectations weren’t high for this game and Arsenal (without an away win in 2018) controlled the opening stage with some neat passing moves. Mkhitaryan got in an early shot straight at Jakupovic, but the keeper was given a more severe test by Iwobi in the 6th minute when he got down to tip a toe-poked effort round the post.
City broke upfield in the 10th minute when great work from Choudhury, set up Iheanacho, who neatly side-stepped his marker but then lost his footing.
Two minutes later City broke away again and Silva sent Vardy through, but his shot was well saved by Cech.
City then delighted the home crowd who had a goal to celebrate at long last.
In the 14th minute. After a spell of pressure, Fuchs launched a cross beyond the far post, Diabaté sent a neat header back into the area and Iheanacho delivered a measured left-footer through a crowd of defenders and past Cech.

The KPS was instantly revived and a minute later City were nearly through again. Iheanacho was in on goal when Mavropanos brought him down, and was judged to be the last man, leaving Arsenal with 10 men for 75 minutes.

Mahrez curled the resulting free-kick in and Maguire attempted a side-foot finish from close range, but Cech tipped it over the bar.
City were rampant now and Iheanacho fired a shot from the edge of the area, but Cech came to the Gunners rescue again.
Diabaté then made good progress down the left before whipping in a cross that was a couple of inches away from Vardy’s boot.
With City in control of the game Arsenal had a rare attack in the 35th minute when Jakupovic produced a fine save to guide a Mkhitaryan shot round the base of the post. Along with some excellent distribution, the keeper was having a fine Premier League debut for City.
In the 38th minute Silva curved a low free-kick round the wall, but Cech tipped it away at full stretch. City broke forward again, but Iheanacho’s angled drive saw the over-worked Cech saving again.
The half-time joy that City had played so well was temepered by the fact that they hadn’t scored more goals from so many chances. And Arsenal came out for the second half in more determined mood.

Two minutes into the second half Kolasinac found space down the left but his shot from an acute angle thumped against the post.
City were soon pouring forward again. A good run from Mahrez set up Vardy, but the offside flag denied City a second goal.
Diabaté then raced into space down the left, but his shot had the sting taken out of it by Cech’s block, allowing for an easy goal line clearance.
For all City’s chances, it was Arsenal who got the next goal in the 53rd minute.
Aubameyang’s well struck volley was brilliantly saved by Jakupovic from close range, but he had no chance when Aubameyang followed up to lash the ball into the roof of the net.
A now open game was end-to-end for a while. Diabaté fired a shot over the bar, and Fuchs also went close, before Mkhitaryan blasted an effort just over the angle of post and bar.
Claude Puel made his first change in the 72nd minute, bringing Gray on for Diabaté, and it soon reaped its reward.
Gray beat his man down the right and sent in a low cross which was cleared straight back to him, but as he took possession Mkhitaryan caught him from behind and the ref pointed to the spot amid furious protests.
Vardy sent Cech the wrong way, smashing it left to regain City’s lead.

Simpson had to limp out of the action in the 82nd minute, replaced by Dragovic, as City attempted to see the game out. But there was one more moment of magic to come.
A superb ball from Choudhury capped a brilliant night’s work for him and sent Mahrez down the right. In what will surely be his last home appearance for City he sent his marker into the car park with a swift change of direction before guiding the ball round the grounded Cech for another wonderful finish.

Five minutes of time-added-on passed without drama and City’s home schedule finished on a very high note after months of disappointment.
In contrast to Saturday, a large majority of the crowd stayed on to applaud the side off the pitch for what had been a great effort.
There was even a chant for Arsène Wenger, who had lost to Leicester for the first time in his long Arsenal career.
9th place was secured and we were left thinking that it hadn’t been too bad a season after all.

Leicester: Jakupovic, Simpson (Dragovic 82), Morgan, Maguire, Fuchs, Mahrez, Choudhury, Silva, Diabaté (Gray 72), Vardy, Iheanacho (Barnes 88).
Substitutes: Hamer, Iborra, Benalouane, Thomas.
Arsenal: Cech, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Mavropanos, Kolasinac, Iwobi (Nketia 84), Xhaka, Ramsey, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang, Welbeck (Mustafi 19).
Substitutes: Mertesacker, Ospina, Nelson, Osei-Tutu, Willock.
Referee: G Scott. Attendance: 32,095.

ALL PHOTOS: Simon Kimber. 

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Another horror show for Leicester as West Ham reach safety

Leicester City 0:2 West Ham United

Two years after City’s triumphant lifting of the Premier League trophy, only a few hundred fans stayed behind to witness the ‘lap of appreciation’ at the King Power following another dire performance that saw a 2-0 defeat against West Ham…

With a growing list of injuries, and Albrighton’s suspension, Claude Puel made five changes to his side. Benalouane was drafted in at right back, Fuchs returned at left back and Iborra made an unexpected return from injury.
But from very early in the game it was clear that City would not be bouncing back from that 5-0 defeat at Palace. West Ham, still needing point for survival, looked far the more purposeful side, while City didn’t appear to have a game plan beyond sideways passes.

In the 6th minute a poor clearance from Hamer set West Ham up with a chance, but Benalouane intercepted the danger.
Then Morgan skied a clearance and the defence were slow to react, Lanzini having a shot deflected wide.
After West Ham’s early spell of pressure, the game consisted of sideways passing from City with no end product and the crowd’s frustration began to grow.
On the half hour Lanzini sent Arnautovic in on the left but Hamer got his angles right to block the shot. Arnautovic then hit the bar with a half volley, but it was only a temporary reprieve. In the next attack Arnautovic reached a cross at the far post and hooked the ball across goal to set up Joao Mario for a 6 yard finish.
City’s first real chance arrived in the 38th minute when Diabaté sent a shot wide of the right hand post.
Lanzini then lashed a shot into the side-netting from a tight angle.
The half time whistle brought a chorus of boos…

Claude Puel made a change at the break, bringing Dragovic on for Iborra and pushing Maguire forward into midfield for the second game running.
The 49th minute brought controversy when Vardy and Cresswell were in a race down the right. Cresswell went to gorund as they collided and grabbed the ball just outside the area to prevent Vardy from being clear on goal. Although he was the last man he only saw a yellow card.

West Ham broke upfield and Arnautovic lined up a shot but was blocked by a great recovery from Choudhury.
With City still struggling to create anything in West Ham’s half Puel made a double change in the 61st minute, bringing on Iheanacho and Gray for Choudhury and Diabate.
With two of City’s better performers on the day being withdrawn a chant of “You don’t know what you’re doing!” rang around the ground.
Three minutes later West Ham sealed victory with a stunning goal.
A free kick from the right was headed clear but sat up nicely for Noble, who arrowed a beautifully struck 25 yard volley past Hamer.
Arnautovic then wriggled through several challenges before Maguire got a block on his shot.
In the 75th minute Gray broke down the left but could only deliver a tame cross into the arms of Adrián.
Home fans were beginning to stream towards the exits with ten minutes remaining as the only piece of entertainment came when a pitch invader tried to give the stewards the runaround but couldn’t keep his footing.
City’s first shot on target came from Silva in the 86th minute, though it went straight at Adrián. It brought forth loudly sarcastic applause from the fans that remained.

There followed the forlorn sight of the annual ‘lap of appreciation’, by which time there were little more than a thousand fans left in the stadium. If the owners were in any doubt of the feelings towards Claude Puel’s management it was spelt out loud and clear.

Two wins in 12 games saw City at the bottom of the form table, with Puel seemingly incapable of reversing the dramatic slide.

Leicester: Hamer, Benalouane, Morgan, Maguire, Fuchs, Mahrez, Choudhury (Iheanacho 61), Iborra (Dragovic 45), Diabaté (Gray 61), Silva, Vardy.
Substitutes: Jakupovic, Thomas, Barnes, Hughes.
West Ham: Adrián, Rice, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Zabaleta, Kouyaté, Noble, Masuaku (Evra 90), João Mário, Lanzini (Carroll 75), Arnautovic (Fernandes 79).
Substitutes: Hugill, Obiang, Cullen, Trott.
Referee: C Kavanagh. Attendance: 32,013.

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Woeful Leicester destroyed at Palace

Crystal Palace 5:0 Leicester City

A truly dreadful performance by City saw them thrashed 5-0 by Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday…

Claude Puel made two changes to his side, starting Choudhury ahead of Silva, and reinstating Morgan for Dragovic.
City had the first chance soon after kick off when Sakho underhit a back pass to Hennessey, but the Palace keeper got to the ball a split-second before Vardy.
Palace then applied some pressure with a couple of corners, before Iheanacho headed over from a Chilwell cross.
At the other end Hamer miscued a punch sending the ball straight to the head of Tomkins, but Iheanacho cleared off the line.
There was another goal-line clearance five minutes later when City broke upfield and Iheanacho played Vardy in for a shot, but Ward had scrambled back to block his effort.
A minute later, City went behind. A fine move involving Loftus-Cheek and Cabaye found McArthur on the edge of the area, and his back-heel found an unmarked Zaha who crashed the ball past Hamer.
City attempted to get back on level terms, but looked slow and pondrous against a more energised Palace side and Hamer had to pull off a fine save to deny Zaha on the half hour. Three minutes later Morgan got a crucial touch to divert a corner away from the lurking Palace strikers.
But City fell further behind in the 38th minute, when Zaha set up McArthur, whose low shot on the turn arrowed past Hamer into the bottom left hand corner.
The half time whistle ended the worst 45 minutes of Puel’s tenure, at least until the second half.

Two changes were made at half time, Diabate and Silva replacing Iheanacho and Choudhury, but five minutes into the second half a third had to be made when Ndidi limped off with a hamstring injury. Dragovic came on and Maguire was moved into midfield.
City’s afternoon got worse in the 56th minute when Zaha chased a long ball and Albrighton put an arm across his chest, bringing him down. As he was the last man Mike Dean had little option but to show him a red card. You had to feel for Albrighton, who has been forced into a right back berth that he simply isn’t suited to.
Palace were lacking the intensity they had in the first half but City looked clueless, losing possession and apparently with no planned route to goal. Vardy was virtually a spectator.
But Palace then provided a grand finish, that had Selhurst Park rocking. In the 81st minute Loftus-Cheek beat the offside trap to stroll round Hamer and roll the ball into the net.
Three minutes later it was 4-0, as Hamer came off his line to block a Schlupp effort, but van Aanholt followed up with a low shot into the far corner.
In the 90th minute Maguire’s clumsy challenge on Benteke saw Mike Dean award a penalty. Benteke fired his spot-kick down the middle for 5-0 and City’s misery was complete.

It was the worst performance in years and had many City supporters demanding the head of Claude Puel. Two years ago City were heading towards the Premier League title, so many wrong decisions have been made since then.

Crystal Palace: Hennessey, Ward, Tomkins, Sakho, van Aanholt, McArthur (Schlupp 83), Milivojevic, Cabaye, Loftus-Cheek (Lee Chung-yong 86), Townsend (Benteke 86), Zaha.
Substitutes: Speroni, Sørloth, Wan-Bissaka, Kelly.
Leicester: Hamer, Albrighton, Morgan, Maguire, Chilwell, Mahrez, Ndidi (Dragovic 51), Choudhury (Silva 45), Gray, Iheanacho (Diabaté 45), Vardy.
Substitutes: Simpson, Jakupovic, Fuchs, Barnes. 
Referee: M Dean. Attendance: 25,750.

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The FOX – The Leicester City fanzine 208 – in the shops now

The 208th edition of The FOX – is now in the shops…

This is a bumper 48 page issue featuring: An exclusive interview with former City defender and caretaker manager Gerry Taggart; Fully Programmed from April 1999; Fox Diary; the History of Leicester City in 100 Objects; the Foxes Trust meeting with the Premier League; Rewind – Captain Morgan’s goal against Seville; Foxed in the Head – on needless modern football annoyances, and the trip to Brighton; Scott Bentley, on following City from Glasgow ; new cartoon strip ‘Rob ‘n’ Den – The Ex-Leicester Men’; Details on our new interviews compilation book – ‘Can’t Buy That Feeling’; John Hutchinson on the LCFC Heritage Project; your letters and Bentley’s Roof…

All for less than the price of a pint. *

*Except in Wetherspoons.

Gerry Taggart interview extract…

FOX: You came back to Leicester as assistant manager to Gary Megson, but he left after a month, what happened there?

GT: As far as I recall there was some stalling on one or two issues with his contract and he hadn’t signed it. His agent was well in at Bolton and the manager there got the sack, and he put his name in. Gary was under no obligation as he hadn’t signed. Apart from being player-coach at Tamworth, this was my first proper coaching job, and suddenly I was chucked in at the deep end when he left. Me and Frank Burrows were put in charge for a few weeks and I wasn’t ready for it and I didn’t really want it.

FOX: One of the matches during that four weeks was Chelsea away in the League Cup. How did you prepare the players for playing one of the top sides in Europe?

GT: I tried to take the pressure off them, because looking at Chelsea even their bench had some heavy artillery on it. I think the biggest fault of the modern day game is that they take all of the enjoyment out of it for the players. So I told them to enjoy it, even though they probably wouldn’t because they were going to be under the cosh! The main reason I played football was because I enjoyed it. I tried to paint a picture for them, go out and enjoy it, test yourself against some of the best players in Europe, if not the world. Don’t worry about losing a game of football you aren’t expected to win. In the end it wasn’t enough, but we gave it a good go. We were 3-2 up late on and Carl Cort missed an easy chance. Then they brought Shevchenko on and he banged in a couple in quick succession.
But look at Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp – they tell their players to enjoy it, don’t be afraid, express yourselves. There’s too much pressure on players, they can’t enjoy it like the lads who play on the park on a Sunday. That was the philosphy I tried to bring in.

You can buy a copy of The FOX 208 online HERE. 

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